Method of sealing containers



N ir a STATES FREDERICK WESTERIBECK, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

METHOD OF SEALING CONTAINERS.

Application filed May 27,

tain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Sealing Containers, of which the fo l-. lowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in methods of sealing containers, and especially to a method whereby sheet metal containers may be effectively sealed without the use of solder. The invention affords a complete solution to the problems involved in sealing sheet metal cans containing ether and other hi hly volatile explosive liquids.

rior to this invention, it has been almost the universal practice to seal cans containing ether by the application of solder and-a hot soldering iron to the closure; a practice requiring great skill on the part of the operator and involving serious danger on account of the highly inflammable vapor issuing from the contents of the cans. Explosions and fires have resulted from this ordinary practice of soldering the closures of cans containing ether. Furthermore, the soldering of such closures under these unfavorable conditions is frequently not altogether perfect, and there is consequent loss and danger due to the contents of the cans escaping fromimperfectly soldered closures.

The new method provides absolutely airtight closures without the use of hot solder, and the closures can be readily opened by a sharp instrument. Briefly stated, the method includes the step of expanding the raw edge of a closure-receiving flange to forcibly embed said edge in a closure mem ber made f soft metal. The closure is preferably in the form of a soft metal cap having a depending soft metal flange which surrounds the raw edge, and the flange having the raw edge is expanded to force said edge outwardly and into the soft metal. To prevent undesirable displacement of the soft metal and to positively embed the raw edge in the soft metal, the latter is interposed directly between the raw edge and afirm thrust-receiving ring, whereby the soft metal is confined at the raw edge. In addition to confining the soft metal during the expanding operation, the thrust-receiving ring is folded to aid in forming the seal and also to Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 30, 1922.

1920. Serial No. 384,556.

enclose and protect the soft metal at the sealed joint. I

Fig. I is a vertical section, partly in elevation, illustrating the closure elements as they appear before the sealing operation, and also showing certain mechanical devices adapted for use in forming the seal.

Fig. II is a view similar to Fig. I, showing the elements as they appear after the sealing operation.

Fig. III is a plan view illustrating the top of the closure and the jaws which may be used in folding the closure flanges.

Fig. IV is a top r plan View of the thrustreceiving ring.

Fig. V is a top view of the soft metal closure.

Fig. V1 is a top view of the closure-receiving neck.

1 designates the body ofa sheet metal container provided with a filling and pouring neck 2, which may be formed upon the headof the sheet metal body or secured thereto in any suitable manner.

The sealing elements include a yieldable, expansibleflange A turned outwardly at the top of the neck 2, a soft metal cap B, and a relatively firm thrust-receiving ring C.

The expansible annular flange A is preferably flared outwardly and upwardly and provided with an annular head 3. This flange may be made of very thin sheet metal, such as brass, the outer edge of said flange preferably being the cut edge of the material of which said flange is formed whereby said flange is provided with a sharp or raw edge. The closure cap B is preferably made of soft metal, for example, lead, said cap comprising an upper disk portion 4 and a marginal flange 5 which initially extends downwardly from the disk portion, as shown in Fig. I. This cap is adapted to be applied to the container neck so that its disk portion will rest upon the expansible flange A, and the soft metal flange 5 will then surround the adjacent raw edge at the top of flange A.

The thrust-receiving abutment ring C initially comprises an inturned top flange 6 anda depending'side flange 7 conforming to the top and side margins of the soft metal cap.

After the closure elements have been flanged and otherwise formed as previously pointed out, the soft metal cap B is seated upon the expansible flange A and the thrustreceiving ring is seated upon said cap, as shown in Fig. I. The soft metal corner at the upper margin of flange 5 is thus located directly between the sharp outer edge of flange A and the relatively firm ring 7, the latter being preferably made of relatively strong material so as to withstand thrusts tending to expand the same. If a downward thrust is imparted to the strong ring C and transmitted to the flaring flange A, the latter will tend to expand so as to embed its raw edge in the soft metal flange 5. Or, if the head 3 in flan e A is flattened, the marginal portion 0 the flange will be expanded to embed its raw edge in the soft metal.

As an illustration of suitable mechanical devices for performing operations of this kind, I have shown a plunger 10 whereby a downward thrust may be imparted to the ring C, and a pair of jaws 11 which may be moved toward each other for the purpose of folding the flanges 5 and? under the flange A, each jaw 11 having an abutment 12 adapted to engage the depending flange 7. When the plunger 10 and jaws 11 are moved from the positions shown in Fig. I to the positions shown in Fig. II, the abutments 12 will act upon the flanges 5 and 7 to turn soft metal.

them inwardly beneath the flange A, and the plunger 10 will cooperate with thrustreceiving ring 6 to positively expand the flange A. During these operations, soft metal flange 5 of the. cap B is interposed directly between the raw edge of flange A and the strong ring C, and while flaring flange A is being forced toward a horizontal position, its sharp outer edge is embedded in the interposed soft metal, and as the operation continues there is a tendency to flatten the bead 3 in the flange A. As a cOnsequence, the raw edge of flange A is positively expanded into the soft metal while the latter is confined by ring C, thereby insuring an absolutely airtight seal at the raw edge. The ring prevents expansion of the interposed soft metal during the sealing operation, while the raw edge is being forced into the soft metal, and this firm ring also protects the sealed joint from accidental displacement after the flange A has been embedded in the soft metal.

The operation of folding the flanges 5 and 7 inwardly beneath the flange A, results in,

a slight contraction of ring C, so this operation tends to embed edge of flange A in the \Vhen the sealing elements are finally forced to the positions shown by Fig. II, the flange A is interposed between margins of the soft metal cap B, and these soft metal elements are confined under pressure between the flanges 6 and 7 of the thrust-receiving ring C. As a result, the main seal is formed by the operation of expanding the flange A, and auxiliary seals are formed by forcing the soft'metal into firm engagement with the bead 3 in the flange A.

By following the method hereinv disclosed,

'the can is hermetically sealed without the use of hot solder, and this result is accomplished in a very simple manner without requiring the use of expensive or complicated closure elements, and after the seal is formed it is protected-by the ring C. A high degree of accuracy is not required in the manufacture of the closure elements, for the raw edge of flange A is positively embedded in flange 6, so as to allow an ordinary cork to be used as a stopper after the can has been opened by the user.

' I claim: I

1. The method of sealingcontainers which includes forming each of said containers with a closure-receiving flange having a raw edge, placing a soft metal closure member on said closure-receiving flange, locating a relatively firm thrust-receiving ring on said soft metal closure member whereby a portion of said soft metal closure member is confined between said relatively firm thrust-receiving ring and the raw edge of said closure-receiving flange, and then expanding said closure-receiving flange to imbed its raw edge in said soft metal closure member.

2. The method of sealing containers which includes forming each of said containers with a closure-receiving flange having a raw edge, placing a soft metal cap provided with a depending soft metal circular flange on said closure-receiving flange, locating a relatively firm thrust-receiving abutment ring on said soft metal cap so that said depending soft metal circular flange of the soft metal cap is confined between said relatively firm thrust-receiving abutment ring and said raw edge of the closure-receiving flange, and then expanding sald closure-rece1v1ng 1 said closure-receiving flange, locating a relatively firm thrust-receiving abutment ring on said soft metal cap so that said depending soft metal circular flange of the soft metal cap is confined between said relatively firm thrust-receiving abutment ring and said raw edge of the closure-receiving flange, expanding said closure-receiving flange to imbed its raw edge in said depending soft metal circular flange 0f the soft metal cap and folding said abutment ring to enclose the soft metal adjacent to said raw edge.

4. The method of sealing containers which comprises forming a sheet metal cl'osurereceiving neck with an upwardly flaring flange having an annular bead and a sharp annular upper edge, forming a soft metal cap with a depending soft metal annular flange. locating said sharp, upper edge in the corner at the top of said depending soft metal flange, forming a relatively firm thrust-receiving ring having an inturned top flange and a depending side flange conforming to the top and side margins of said soft metal cap, applying said thrust-receiving ring to said margins of the soft metal cap, said corner of the soft metal cap being thus interposed directly between said sharp upper edge and the thrust-receiving ring, then subjecting said upwardly flaring flange to pressure tending to flatten the flaring flange, thereby expanding said flaring flange to imbed its sharp edge in the interposed soft metal corner, and folding said depending flanges under the first mentioned flange so as to closely confine the soft metal between said relatively firm thrustreceiving ring and the first mentioned flange.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto affix my si nature.

FREDERIG WESTERBECK. 

